DUP MP Sammy Wilson is railing at his colleague’s department over the 20mph limit

Sammy Wilson has accused the "road safety anti-motor car Taliban" of not knowing where to stop, after a 20mph speed limit was introduced in Belfast city centre this week.

The East Antrim MP claimed the traffic calming measure is designed to 'fill the coffers' of the Department for Regional Development (DRD) - which is run by his DUP party colleague Michelle McIlveen - and will do nothing for road safety.

In an outspoken attack on his colleague's department, Mr Wilson said: "The introduction of 20mph speed limits into parts of Belfast and Newtownabbey will swell the coffers of DRD through fines on motorists and do nothing for road safety.

"Due to the baffling array of bus lanes in Belfast, traffic is already at a standstill for many hours every day and speeds of 30mph are only possible when there are few pedestrians about the city anyhow.

"I doubt that DRD could justify these new speed limits on the basis of the number of people killed or injured through excessive speed in the city centre."

The former Executive Finance Minister added: "This is yet another example of war against motorists, and will put even more shoppers off going into the city centre.

"The road safety anti-motor car Taliban don't know when to stop and unfortunately there is not the political will to stand up against their increasingly draconian policies."

In addition to Belfast, 20mph zones have been introduced in Newtownabbey, Ballynahinch, Ballymena and Ballycastle.

A DRD spokesperson said: "The key aim of these schemes is to improve safety for the vulnerable road user, particularly pedestrians and cyclists, without causing any undue inconvenience for car drivers.

"Statistics show that if a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle at 40mph they are 90 percent likely to sustain a fatality, at 30mph this is reduced to 50 percent and at 20mph the chances of being involved in a fatality reduces to 10 percent.

"So we are not only looking to reduce the severity of these collisions, we are also looking to reduce the numbers of them.

"The Department intend to monitor these schemes to assess their effectiveness or otherwise of reducing traffic speeds and collisions."

_________________Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

Somewhere else on here I've posted on a press release by local speed campaigners and the mums brigade, on how after a bout of complaints on "speeding cars" in one 20 limit, I can't remember the total vehicles checked, but it was in the hundreds, and I seem to remember only one vehicle was in the prosecution belt, with a few others advised to reduce speed. We still see regular press articles on speeding in this vicinity,but little effort to assist those drivers respecting the limit from the effects of aggressive tailgating.

_________________lets bring sanity back to speed limits.Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

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